#Benzokai

[easterndaze]

Easterndaze x Berlin 2019 presents Tallin’s Serious Serious

Serious Serious is a label/collective based between Vienna and Tallinn. Their roster varies from cut’n’paste maestro Ratkiller, to existential beatmaker Benzokai and several artists from the Tallinn underground. They will present three artists from their roster at our Easterndaze x Berlin event on 28 November at ACUD Macht Neu (Ratkiller, Benzokai and Kisling).

RATKILLER

The sense of worn-out psychedelia in Ratkiller’s music as well as his obsessions with all kinds of obscurities might ring many bells in listener’s imagination, but it is foremost the playful dialogue between “zeitgeist” and “obsolete”, the constant shifting of forms and their meanings, that leaves us wonder – how does something so unimportant and unsexy ends up being so stimulating and cool? Mihkel Kleis (aka Ratkiller, Edasi, and most recently Court Rat) has been releasing music under numerous underground labels since late 90’s, witnessing and shaping the forming of Estonian experimental music scene, all of this while maintaining his distinctive and somewhat obviously unexpected approach. ratkiller.bandcamp.com

KISLING Kisling is a regular at Vienna’s underground music gatherings thanks to the brave experimentatorship and intensity contained in her sets. Kisling's compositions often transcend logic of a certain style or genre –– like fashion, they combine parallels that are not easily imaginable. kisling.bandcamp.com

BENZOKAI

Benzokai’s way is that of drum, bass and unfriendly rapping.   soundcloud.com/rinla

Listen to their Cashmere Radio mix on our monthly show with tracks from Lolina, Kisling, Jacob Samuel and others!

Resident Advisor events:

[biit]

Benzokai & Tont - Rap Music Rocks - Serious Serious #cd #music #estonia #benzokai #tont #seriousserious #biitme #recordstore (at Biit Me Record Store)

[easterndaze]

Emptiness as potential: An interview with Artyom Astrov

Artyom Astrov is a multifaceted artist whose area of interest transgresses music, visual arts and poetry. He currently lives and works in the Estonian capital Tallinn. Among his solo projects is, for instance, the hip-hop-influenced moniker Benzokai. His latest work is a conceptual album called Background Music (Vol 1), an almost scenic conception of music, accompanied by a video which depicts various still life situations. The release was published on his own label Serious Serious. 

Can you talk about your latest release - the concept behind it, if any?

Background Music is all about happiness and love. My original intention was to explore a few musical ideas. Actually, not only musical. Ideas that have something to do with stillness, space, repetition, chance, randomness. But also, maybe even more importantly, I had an idea to find an antidote to various anxieties and restlessness, which somehow became the norm for both everything outside and my music-making. Speaking of the release, there's a certain sonic code, certain logic to it, but also a lot of emotion. Actually, I think it's really charged with good feelings. Maybe that's even more important to me than some sharp concepts.

How does this differ from your previous Benzokai work? In terms of the music-making process, concept, vibe? 

I was studying jazz and became fascinated by academic music, then came Benzokai with a totally different “boom boom” attitude, abstract poetry, and an electronic music rollercoaster. But at some point I felt like taking time and returning to where I came from. When I work with acoustic music, I work without a real reference. The process in Background Music was fun. I played around with notation and chance techniques, and had a nice time recording a real-pipe organ and shooting videos in a very charming place in south Estonia.

Your work deals with emptiness, void, is it something conscious and personal, or more general / global?

The idea of emptiness that I refer to has little to do with void or depression or lack of something. Actually it's a source of inspiration to me. Actually I think of emptiness as potential. It's this pregnant moment before stuff really happens. If you keep your mind still – even for a moment, things start happening.

Can you tell us something about yourself, your background, interests, work?

Currently I'm busy writing music for a couple of theatre productions, recording and performing as Benzokai, and as of recent, running a record label called Serious Serious. We're interested in ambient and conceptual music, but also in creating social situations with a participatory character. So it's not so much about selling and buying things, but it's about finding ways of bringing people together under the banner of idealism, generosity, care, creativity – creativity not in the sense of creating new objects, but in the sense of finding new ways and attitudes to do things in this crazy, cold world.    

[easterndaze]

Easterndaze x Berlin 2019

THIRD EDITION OF FESTIVAL CONTINUES TO PAIR ELECTRONIC MUSIC COLLECTIVES OF EASTERN EUROPE + BERLIN TO CELEBRATE DIY ARTS & COMMUNAL ETHOS 

28-30 November 2019 Various venues in Berlin Tickets for each event can be purchased directly at the door. The Easterndaze x Berlin festival once again invites artists, actors and activists from the electronic music scene of Eastern Europe to Berlin, pairing them with locally-based labels/collectives for live performances, DJ sets and talks. Established in 2010, the blog Easterndaze (easterndaze.net) has explored and mapped local DIY scenes operating in Eastern and Central Europe. Founders Lucia Udvardyova and Peter Gonda travelled across the region to record interviews and collect perspectives on how contemporary artists and independent music-related initiatives operate in the region and its socio-political context. The initial result was a series of audio documentaries which then expanded to: a label (Baba Vanga); a networking initiative; radio shows (Resonance FM, Czech Radio, Berlin’s Cashmere Radio); and finally, events around the region, as well as the festival’s first two editions in Berlin (2016, 2018). As the fascination with and discourse around contemporary Eastern European culture gradually enters the mainstream, Easterndaze remains one of the pillars of these investigations nearly a decade strong. PROGRAM EASTERNDAZE × BERLIN 2019: DIY MUSIC TOPOGRAPHIES CONCERTS Thursday 28/11 - Conditional (Berlin) x Serious Serious (Tallinn) Venue: ACUD - Veteranenstr. 21, 10119 Berlin-Mitte Line up:

Steph Horak & Renick Bell (live) Jennifer Walton (live) Daniel Katinsky (live) Ratkiller (live) Benzokai (live) Kisling (live) Friday 29/11 - Voodoohop (Berlin/Sao Paulo) x Paradaiz (Bucharest) Venue: Arkaoda - Karl-Marx-Platz 16-18, 12043 Berlin- Neukölln Line up: Paradaiz Tape Mașina (DJ) Tina Scarlatina (live) Matteo Islandezu feat Lena (live) *secret guest* Urubu Marinka (dj set) Caroline Barrueco (visual installation) Saturday 30/11 - Forbidden Planet (Berlin/Montreal) x Мechta (Minsk) Venue: +4 Bar/Tresor - Köpenicker Str. 70, 10179 Berlin Line up: Mono Junk (live) Mas569 (live) Yanling (DJ) Elena Sizova (DJ) Morgotika (DJ) SDS (DJ) TALKS Saturday 30/11 Venue: ZÖNOTÉKA – Hobrechtstrasse 54., 12047 Berlin-Neukölln // Kajet Journal presents: “SUBCULTURAL PERIPHERIES: RE-MAPPING THE EAST” // D’EST presents: Videoteka with music-related video art by female and non-binary artists Partners: Cashmere Radio, KAJET Journal, D'EST, Exberliner, Crack Magazine, Kaput Magazine and Berlin Art Link. Curated by Lucia Udvardyova, produced by Natalie Gravenor, graphic design by Marijn Degenaar. Funded by Musicboard Berlin, supported by Estonian Embassy in Berlin RA event: https://www.residentadvisor.net/events/1331242